Paperheart
by CheeseSwiss
Summary: Eva wants an entrance into the notorious Inkworld Capricorn holds dear but she also wants to avenge her beloved ones' deaths. Simultaneously something sweet blooms in her heart and she finds herself torn between Dustfinger and... Basta.
1. Fire and Love

**This story takes place in the real world (for now) with the city in Italy and people like Basta and Capricorn. Dustfinger and Resa are there too, and their lives are similiar to those in the book, yet different as there is no Mo, no Meggie. It will be a darker fic, but I hope you will enjoy it anyway. Here you are, chapter one:**

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**(Disclaimer: I own no one except for Eva. Every other character belongs to Cornelia Funke)**

She knew something was wrong the moment she neared the house. The windows were dark, the chimney poured out no smoke. The door was ajar and creaking quietly.

The night was stormy, the wind swept through the wheat and oat fields, making the crop sink and rise like waves. There was a full moon, a harvest moon actually, red. She didn't want to go inside. Never had she felt such fear before. Such thick, syrupy fear that clogged her throat, stuck her lungs together. She was not afraid of going inside though. She was afraid of what she would find.

Slowly her feet started towards the door. The hole ready to swallow her. There was a crunch underneath her feet. She looked down and her heart stopped. It was her mother's glass swan, one of her most prized possessions. The swan was black. And now it lay broken on the grit. She scooped up the pieces and put them in her pocket. Now there was full-blown panic in her system. Something was very, very wrong indeed.

Too soon she arrived at the door. The wind howled, the crop rustled. She entered the house.

It was dark, and the air was cold. She didn't want to turn on the lights so she dug in her pockets and between the glass shards she found a lighter she used for crafts. She lit it and it provided her with a small illuminated area.

Inside, her home looked like a wreck. The living room looked as if a hurricane had swept through it. The curtains were ripped, the windows broken. The icy autumn wind blew in, chilling her even further. She could barely believe it; she didn't want to believe it. Everything in her felt numb and distant. Desperately she tried to deny it all, but it was hopeless. Something had happened and there was nothing she could do.

The kitchen was a mess too, china lay broken on the floor, the cupboard-doors hung loose on their hinges. Water was running from the tap into the sink which was already overflowing but she didn't have the heart to stop it. She moved on.

She came to her parent's bedroom and the nausea in her stomach increased. All that she wanted to do was run away, run away as fast as she could, but she was driven by this strange pull, she couldn't stop. And so she saw them.

They were lying on the floor like ragdolls, still and lifeless. Even in the moonshine and the feeble light from her lighter, Eva could see that their skin was awfully pale and the eyes that were open, were also unseeing. Red bloomed over their hearts, dark red. There was a horrible tang of metallic-sweetness in the air. Her mother and father. They were dead.

It was as if the world came crashing down on her. She could _hear _the apocalypse and thought it would rip her apart. There was no pain worse than this. No pain fiercer than this. This was really the worst. She turned on her heel and ran. A pained howl came out of her mouth as she did. She stumbled out of the house and rushed right into the wheat fields.

That was when she heard the steps behind her. Boots against grit. She twisted round, hiding her lighter. Her broken heart was pounding loudly, could they hear it? Were they the murderers?

"There!" a voice shouted.

Eva knew immediately that they had sighted her. Perhaps they wanted to murder her, too. And in all the misery, she realized she didn't want to die. Just not yet.

But they were fast. As she sped through the wheat field, she turned around and saw them vaguely in the dark. Several men, black clothing. Only one had a white shirt that shone brightly. They were close and she wasn't a leaper; soon one of the grabbed her and threw her to the ground. She kicked and screamed and tried to punch them but one of them suddenly brought out a gun and held it to her head. She stopped.

"Surely you don't want to end up like your poor mama and papa, huh? Sweetheart." Said the one holding the gun. She spat into his face, on his abnormal nose. But she couldn't hiss anything back, there was too much lead in her lungs and heart and she couldn't breathe.. there was no air.

"Alright, boys. Lets go. I'll take this one, we might need her." He tore Eva up from the ground, held her close.

"No!" she screamed, but in vain – it wasn't as if she could negotiate with her parents' murderers.

"Oh, and Flatnose?" the man who held her said.

"Burn the house."

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**Comments, praise or criticism are welcome. Do tell me if I have done some grammatical error or factial mistake.**

**Goodbye and good luck, **

**CheeseSwiss**


	2. The Midnight Show

**At last the second chapter. It took a while, but now it's here :) **

**Thank you those who have commented and followed!**

**Chapter 2. The Midnight Show**

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**(Disclaimer: I own no one except for Eva. Every other character belongs to Cornelia Funke)**

8 months later:

The Italian evening was mild, warm. As Eva longingly looked out of the window of Capricorn's house, she saw a red sky and a full moon. Before her life here in Capricorn's village, whenever she'd been away from home, she had always looked at the moon and taken comfort in the fact that her family looked at the same moon, but now that they were dead, she was no longer granted such a comfort.

The worst pain was over, but the fire of it still scorched her mind. She understood that it would never really go away.

Reluctantly she turned from the window and continued to sort laundry.

It wasn't as if she would simply accept the fact that they had been murdered. Absolutely not. There was a part of her – a darker, more bloodthirsty part – that hungered for vengeance. Capricorn and his men had to pay for this deed. They _would _pay.

Once she was done with the laundry, she headed out of the house and quickly changed to a scarlet dress in the maid chambers. Capricorn loved the color red. Maybe because it was to cover his own lack of color. She hated him most of all, hated him with a strength that could cause pavement to crack and waves to rise out of the sea. He was so cruel and cold that she at times wondered if his blood was ice, too.

The sun had gone down, leaving place for an eerie darkness, when she finally arrived at the church. She passed the red statue without blinking – it didn't bother her anymore. What bothered her was the scene she had to observe in front of her.

Capricorn's men were all gathered around the table with Capricorn and Mortola at the head of it. Capricorn's red shirt fitted perfectly into the pattern that the dresses of the maids created. Eva also saw Dustfinger, who sat subdued and absentminded as usual, and Basta, who she noticed was stroking his knife tenderly. His shirt was the only white thing in the church, rebelling against the black coats of Capricorn's men and the red dresses of the maid.

Capricorn sat and stared at everyone for a moment, probably absorbing the fear and helplessness everyone except himself felt. Then, as he rang a golden bell, Eva and the other maids had to serve the food. It was possibly the most degrading task one could have in Capricorn's village. Nearly all the men jeered at her and gave her dirty looks as she passed out the bread. The only thing stopping her from expressing her fury was the thought that soon she would get her revenge.

Dustfinger gave her a small smile as she passed him, and she nearly smiled back. At least there was one soul in this whole village who was kindhearted. People like him stopped the world from turning completely dark.

When she handed Basta a piece of bread, she saw that he was etching patterns into the table with his knife. He had changed pretty much the past three months. At first he had been Capricorn's pet, trying to do everything that Capricorn asked of him. As of lately though, he had become almost as subdued as Dustfinger, keeping to himself and acting very hostile.

When the food had been served, the maids all took a step behind and watched as the men and Mortola dined. Sometimes Eva wondered if some of the men even knew what a fork and a spoon was.

Capricorn looked at his food without delight or sign of hunger, as usual. Quite suddenly he turned to Basta – who wasn't eating either – and narrowed his eyes maliciously. "Say, Basta, don't you think it's quite dark in here?"

All the men stopped their chatter to listen. No one wanted to miss out on Capricorn taunting Basta.

Basta winced, pulled his knife out of the table, and mumbled: "Yeah, maybe, I don't know…"

"So can't you light a couple of candles or something?" Capricorn asked slyly, a smirk already playing on his lips. Eva could see how he enjoyed to see the sudden spark of fear in Basta. He was a like a leech, feeding on other people's misery.

Basta absentmindedly rubbed his forearms, as if remembering the night fire scorched his skin. He looked more than hesitant to simply light a couple of candles, he looked _scared_. Eva almost, but only almost, felt sorry for him. He wasn't exactly Mr. Popular in the village. And even though the death of her parents had made her colder, there was still a part of her that pitied outcasts like Basta.

For some reason she glanced at Dustfinger. He was smiling. All she felt was disappointment. Maybe she was wrong about there being a kind a soul in this village.

Capricorn waited for a couple of minutes, but when Basta made no notion to grab the lighter that lay in front of him, he scowled and turned to Dustfinger instead. "Clearly you are useless, Basta, just as I thought. Dustfinger, light the candles."

Basta let this remark pass without any reply. Eva knew that he knew that it was useless to defy Capricorn openly. It would only bring harm to him.

The rest of the dinner passed in usual manner. Eva felt relieved when she was finally let out into the night.

It was dark and warm, and since it was May the air was filled with the scent of cherry blossom. The village looked hauntingly like a ghost town in the moonlight, it was beautiful somehow. It would be even more beautiful without Capricorn's men. Eva grimaced. _That _would soon be arranged.

In her room Eva hurried to her window. She was not tired enough to sleep anyway, despite the long day of chores. Besides, there was something she had to watch before she went to sleep.

Every night Dustfinger went out into courtyard beneath Eva's window when he was sure the village lay in slumber.

She watched him now, his silhouette in the dark. He reached for his bag, brought out a bottle of alcohol fuel and filled his mouth with it. Then he lit a torch… _and breathed. _

The fine mist of fuel suddenly turned to flames that seemed to burn up the night sky. Despite having seen this many, many times, Eva was entranced and forgot about Dustfinger's mean behavior at dinner.

Breathing fire never ceased to be beautiful.

But suddenly everything turned upside-down.

"Showing off, are you?" a voice wandered out of the darkness.

Both Dustfinger and Eva turned to stare at the shape that stepped out of the shadows.

It was Basta.

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**Comments, both praise and criticism, are always welcome! **

**I hope to update as soon as I can.**

**/CheeseSwiss**


	3. Thorns

**I'm deeply sorry for the delay, but it's summer after all and I've been away on mysterious journeys... Here you have it, the third chapter :D**

**Thank you those who comment and follow, you keep this story going!**

**Chapter Three. Thorns  
**

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**(Disclaimer: I own none of the characters except Eva, the rest are property of Cornelia Funke)**

Basta smirked.

He seemed to deeply enjoy the stricken, _worried _expression upon Dustfinger's face and his knife was out, ready for use, gleaming luxuriously in the glow of Dustfinger's torch.

"What do you want?" Dustfinger asked, at once weary as if he already knew how this would play out.

Basta slowly started circling the fire-eater, like a cat playing with a mouse before killing it. The absent-mindedness had left his features and he seemed to downright _quiver _with euphoria at the opportunity of hurting Dustfinger.

Purposefully ignoring Dustfinger's question, Basta said: "You felt quite important at dinner today, didn't you? _Proving _yourself in front of Capricorn." His lingering smile suddenly vanished and he growled: "Nobody can make a fool out of _me_ and get away with it!"

Dustfinger snorted. His expression showed no emotion, it seemed almost _calm_. As if he saw no threat in Basta.

"I didn't make a fool out of you – you did that yourself."

A flash of fury passed over Basta's face. "Watch your tongue, fire-eater! Or I'll cut it off!" His voice was low and dark – a warning.

But Dustfinger laughed – a brief, bitter laugh. "So cut me, Basta, what are you waiting for? Cut me and kill me and do whatever the hell you want, but that's not going to change anything – everyone in this village already sees you as a bloody joke."

For a moment Basta just looked _hurt _and lost and lonely. For a moment Eva thought she could see who he _really _was, the person inside the shell he had created.

Though then his face twisted in fury and without further due, heran at Dustfinger with the gleaming knife raised.

But Dustfinger was already a step ahead of him. He gripped the burning torch with both hands and as Basta came he swung the torch so quickly that it became but a streak of fire in the darkness of the night. The torch collided with Basta's knife-arm. Basta stumbled backwards, grimacing in pain, lost his balance, and fell.

Eva realized she had been holding her breath and holding the window sill in a cramped grip. Now she let go, a little surprised, and stared at Dustfinger as he loomed over the fallen Basta, the torch still in a firm grip.

Basta had let go of his knife and clutched his wounded arm. Eva only barely saw in the feeble light that the fire of the torch had scorched the fabric of the black jacket he was wearing, showing angrily red skin. Basta was breathing in hissy breaths through gritted teeth.

"Don't play with fire," Dustfinger said coldly. "Or you'll get hurt."

He swooped down to pick up his things and then left, blending in with the dark of the night.

Basta lay on the cobblestones for a little while longer, his eyes closed. Then, slowly, with much difficulty, he got up and shuffled into the darkness again, out of view, still clutching his scorched arm.

Eva turned away from the window.

Her heart was racing and there was a bitter taste in her mouth. She had lived under the impression that no feelings reached beyond the numbness the murder of her parents had created for eight months, but here she was, completely thrown off her hinges by the scene she had just witnessed.

With robotic movements she somehow managed to get herself into bed, images flickering in her mind in an unhealthy speed. It wasn't just images of what she had just seen, but other memories, all mixed into a freaky, haunting blend. The confrontation between Basta and Dustfinger had obviously wakened something in her. Something that would perhaps been better off sleeping.

She also realized that her contempt for Dustfinger had grown. Although he had only protected himself against Basta tonight, there had been something _wrong _about what he had done. It was just a haunch but Eva had learned to go after her intuition; it always proved right in the end.

Just as she was finally slipping away into the world of dreams, the door to her room burst open and Mortola stormed in. Out of surprise, Eva sat up abruptly and banged her head on one of the posts of the bed.

In the haze of pain that followed, Mortola looked like a blob of red paint. That blob said in a shrill voice that made Eva cringe: "Get up! You have work to do."

Eva rubbed the bump that was forming on the back of her head. "But it's midnight…" she said weakly.

Mortola narrowed her eyes. "So? When I tell you you have work to do, you have work to do, no matter if it's night or day. So get up before I drag you up myself."

Slowly and very reluctantly, Eva got up, slipped her maid's dress over her nightgown and followed Mortola out into the dark corridor. The injustice of the situation made Eva want to stab Mortola in the back right then and there. But she told herself to hold it in, at least for a little while longer.

Mortola led her into the kitchen of the building. Eva wondered dully if the old hag wanted her to cook something at this late hour. Then she saw the crumpled shadow sitting by the table.

Muttering something under her breath, Mortola lit a kerosene lamp that illuminated the whole kitchen… and the shadow by the table.

It was Basta.

"Tend to his wounds," Mortola demanded, and, with a last scathing glance at both Eva and Basta, left the kitchen.

Eva slowly neared Basta, who slumped over the table, thereby creating the crumpled image. He was conscious, but his eyes stared only at the table and they were dull, lifeless, as if he had surrendered to the demons that haunted him.

"Let me see the wound," she said and touched his shoulder. When he made no motion to do anything whatsoever she demanded in a sharper tone: "Take off your jacket!"

There was a soft hiss as he sighed, sat up straight and peeled off his damaged jacket. The pearl-white shirt underneath was dirty from the ground and the fabric over his arm had burned away completely, leaving frayed, blackened edges.

"And the shirt," Eva said.

Basta scowled, but obeyed reluctantly. His skin was pale underneath, perhaps not as extreme as Capricorn's, but still pretty colorless for someone who lived in Italy.

And Eva saw his scars for the first time. They leaped over his skin like silver serpents, overcrossing each other, connecting and parting. Eva didn't want to know how it had felt when the fired touched his skin and created such damage.

She began with fetching a cloth and soaking it with ice cold water that she wrapped around his arm. To Basta, it seemed like the sensation wasn't altogether unpleasant. In the meantime, while the burn cooled off, Eva rummaged around in the apothecary cupboard until she found what she was looking for. Unfortunately, Capricorn didn't care much for modern medication or anything modern in fact except for guns and cars, so Eva had to do with herbal remedies. Thank her mother, a nurse, she knew what she was doing, but still, Eva doubted it would help Basta much. She crushed herbs, pure alcohol and water into a bitter green paste. And, removing the soaked cloth, she slowly rubbed the paste over the burn.

This time, there were no pleasant feeling. When Basta gripped his chair so hard that his knuckles paled and his lips became a tight, smooth line, it was obvious it was causing him more pain than she had anticipated.

When she was done she wrapped a new, dry cloth around the paste and secured it with a fresh gauze bandage, one of the only things Capricorn had agreed to buy.

"We'll have to change that tomorrow though," Eva remarked loudly, more to herself than to Basta. Her voice sounded odd after the long batch of silence. Hollow… and just odd.

Basta put on his shirt again but his arms sank to his sides when it came to the buttoning part. "Is it going to turn into another scar?" he asked anxiously, looking at Eva out of the corners of his eyes.

Eva sighed. "I'm afraid so."

Basta frowned, as if she had just given him a difficult mathematical equation to solve. "That's… too bad."

Again pity welled up in her heart. Eva tried to oppress it, but seeing Basta in this different light had quite an impact on her.

Another minute of quiet. Then – "I'm sorry. You were probably sleeping."

Eva stared at him, a little taken aback. Was he actually _apologizing? Basta?_

She didn't want to be standing with her mouth open like a fool so she hurriedly said: "Don't… don't worry about it. I'm fine." She even managed a smile, though it mostly resembled a confused grin.

"Thanks."

He grabbed his jacket, stuffed it under his arm and hurriedly left the kitchen. Through the window Eva could see how he walked over the courtyard and disappeared into a side-street.

She sat down, not really wanting to return to her chamber just yet.

Only the hissing noises of the kerosene lamp and faraway howls and barks from the outside accompanied her as she tried to understand… tried to understand what she had seen and what she had felt. But most of all she tried to understand _Basta_. He was a mystery wrapped in a riddle. Either that or he was suffering a personality disorder. There was a side of him that was almost _humble_. And a side of him that was cruel and cold.

In a way she was like that too. It came naturally to her to be kind and hospitable, also thank her mother. But the murder of her parents had also made her bad on the inside, hungering for revenge.

When it simply became too much to her to be thinking of things she wouldn't understand anyway at this hour, she rose and slowly began her path back to her chamber for the much-wanted, much-deserved sleep.

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As soon as he saw her leave, Dustfinger left the window he had been looking into and wandered into the net of streets surrounding the village centre.

The hand that held a box of matches was shaking.

He didn't like what he had seen at all.

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**Comments, both praise and criticism, are always welcome! **

**I hope to update as soon as I can.**

**/CheeseSwiss**


	4. Sleeping Beauty

**Thank you those who comment and follow, you keep this story going!**

**Chapter Four. Sleeping Beauty  
**

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**(Disclaimer: I own none of the characters except Eva, the rest are property of Cornelia Funke)**

It was 6 AM in the morning and Eva was out doing laundry.

It was cold and the sky was lifeless and gray and she could think of endless many places she would rather be than by the river doing laundry.

Her hands were red and scabbed because of the combination of ice-cold water, detergent and soap and the pulsing pain reminded her of why she had to bring down Capricorn, his men and Mortola. She refused to live like this forever. It was time that somebody did something, and if no one else would step up and rebel, she would. Besides, she wanted her revenge.

Born in November in the sign of the scorpion, she had always been a stubborn person and even in the bleakest moments after the murder of her parents she had found reasons to cling on to life, to fight. She had no idea what she'd do once this all was over, but she believed that anything, anything was better than this. She'd probably go to the nearest airport and board a plane which would take her to faraway exotic lands where nobody knew her name and where maybe she'd be able to build up a life, even without her family.

But alas, she was still stuck here in Capricorn's village and for the moment, there was nothing she could do about it.

As she was done with the laundry, before going back to village and getting new orders from Mortola, she sat down by the river bank and looked over the gentle dark-grey water. Judging by the gathered clouds above her, it'd rain soon, there would maybe even be thunder and lightning. She wished she could sit here all day long, but Mortola was prone to slap the maids who were late and she didn't want to walk around the rest of the day with half her face burning red.

So, reluctantly, she got up and headed back towards the village.

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It was evening as Basta came to have his bandages changed.

The sky looked ablaze, the clouds a deep pomegranate-red shade.

Eva was exhausted after the day's work, her back ached, her feet and hands felt sore and she had to support herself on various items to prevent herself from not falling down. The only thing keeping her going was the thought that she couldn't give up at the hands of Capricorn and Mortola. They didn't deserve it.

But even in the state she was in, she was very careful for some reason as she peeled off the old bandages off Basta's arm. He was quiet as usual but he had his knife out which he opened and closed continuously and he seemed very nervous.

Just as Eva was about to secure the gauze bandage with a piece of adhesive plaster, Basta surprised her by asking: "Is there really no way for me to avoid scarring?"

Eva froze with her fingers inches away from his arm. She felt like she was disappointing him, and she didn't like that. "There is. Laser surgery can partially remove scars, but it's expensive and it has to be done by professionals. You'd have to leave this village and visit a city clinic."

More to himself than to Eva, Basta muttered: "Capricorn would never allow that."

"Maybe it doesn't matter if he allows it or not?" Eva said and finally secured the adhesive plaster over the gauze bandages.

Basta frowned and flinched away from her. "You don't understand anything. What the hell are you anyway, just another of Capricorn's maids." He grabbed his jacket and rushed out of the room before she could do anything, say anything.

She threw away the old bandages and stuffed all the medicines back into their beloning shelves and decided not to think more about this incident, it was pointless and she was tired enough anyway.

With very much effort, she dragged herself up the stairs to her room, changed into her formal dinner dress and then had to climb down all the stairs again.

Outside, she had to run to not get soaked by the streaming rain, but as she dove into the shelter of the church, she realized it had been futile as she had been soaked anyway. Her hair dripped to the floor, her dress was now dark red because of the water and she was so cold, she was beyond freezing. And though inside the church it was stifling warm, she hated to be there and started counting down the minutes until she could leave.

Excited by the thunderstorm, Capricorn's men were especially loud tonight and Eva had a difficult time serving them.

She was relieved when she was allowed a break to breathe and gather her strength before she had to go out and serve again. In the far corner of the church, she leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the window. She felt disoriented, nauseous, and dizzy. And it wasn't because she was tired. She had the feeling it was because of something else... something familiar. It was something in the air... she tried to put her finger on it, in vain.

She tried to think of something else and looked out of the window again. The sky was still on fire, the sun slowly rolling down the horizon.

She froze. That couldn't be right. Sunset had passed over an hour again. She ran to exit and pulled open the heavy doors and rushed outside, looked around.

It wasn't the sky that was on fire.

It was the village.

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**There you go. I hope you aren't left too confused. If there are any questions, feel free to ask, I promise I won't bite.**

**Comments, both praise and criticism, are always welcome!**

**I hope to update as soon as I can.**

**/CheeseSwiss**


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